There’s an oddly enduring romanticism around the mano a mano.

The story that owned today’s news cycle pitted two presidents against each other in what one writer – an editor on gender issues – cast as cartoonish, the “ultimate man-off.” Everyone strained to assess the optics of the Trump-Putin meeting from ringside. CNN showed the handshake in sports-replay slow motion – over and over.

Would it be gladiatorial? A love fest? Might anything come of it? Election meddling reportedly was “raised.” In an encouraging development, it was announced that the United States, Russia, and Jordan had reached a cease-fire and agreed to “de-escalate” in southwestern Syria. 

Progress can be incremental, and quiet. On Thursday, before the Group of 20 got going, the European Union and Japan “agreed to the outlines” of a major trade deal of their own. (The EU struck one last fall with Canada.) The US will bluster about China but generally bows to mutual reliance. Even the so-called hermit kingdom of North Korea leans on a vast global network – some of it formal, much of it shadowy, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Over time, wins and losses proceed from the interplay of the deeply interdependent. Ultimately, of course, that’s all of us.

Now, to our five stories for today.